Blake Woodall can still remember the Sunday afternoon drives to the family business.

Back then, the journey from the Woodall home in Preston Hollow to the Vent-A-Hood manufacturing facility in Richardson seemed endless amid the acres of undeveloped land.

“I remember coming out here and all there was, was Texas Instruments, Vent-A-Hood and Collins Radio behind us,” Blake Woodall said. “Basically that’s all that was out here. The rest of this was just a bunch of fields.”

More than 50 years later, America’s oldest manufacturer of residential range hoods now sits in the middle of Richardson’s central business district, with room for growth. The neighboring Arapaho Center DART station, which sits on land previously owned by the Woodalls, gives it a connection to the rest of the Dallas area.

The third-generation, family-owned company has longstanding roots with the Dallas area, tracing its history back 80 years to when Blake Woodall’s grand-uncle, Carr P. Collins, invested $10,000 in the idea of a range hood.

In 1937, Vent-A-Hood patented its first residential range hood. Shortly after, Collins, who was also founder of Fidelity Union Life Insurance Company, asked his nephew, Miles Woodall Jr., to manage the company.

Miles Woodall Jr. passed the company to his sons when he retired in the mid-1990s. Blake Woodall serves as the company’s vice president along with his brother, Miles Woodall III, who is CEO, and two of their other brothers who also serve on the executive committee.

All in the family

An archival photo of Miles Woodall Jr. with his small team of workers in Vent-A-Hood’s early years reminds Blake Woodall that his father’s company started as more of a “grassroots” operation.

Woodall said his father would tell stories to him and his four brothers about the days when the company’s range hoods were sold door-to-door and at small-town parades and the manufacturing facility was nothing more than a house with a dirt floor.

Now there are about 125-150 people employed on the manufacturing floor and more than 40,000 units are produced each year.

It’s not Richardson’s largest employer. AT&T, University of Texas at Dallas and Bank of America top that list, employing thousands each.

However, Bill Sproull, president and CEO of the Richardson Chamber of Commerce, said Vent-A-Hood is recognized as a long-term employer.

He said in 2010, the chamber presented the company with the Richardson Loyalty Award for its years of operation and continued investment in the community.

Blake Woodall said his father instilled in him and his brothers that not only was it important to have a quality product, but also to take care of the company’s employees.

“When I came in and got a leadership role I started really seeing the pride that my father had impressed into the minds of the people that were here,” Blake Woodall said.

He said in the company’s history there have been many families where a father and two or three sons would all come to work. Though multi-generational workers aren’t as prevalent today, there are several employees who have given decades of service.

Ernie Rodriguez, a 40-year Vent-A-Hood employee, started out working in the welding department. Now, the 60-year-old McKinney resident manages a team of five in the customs department, where range hoods are still made by hand.

“When they say something can’t be done, I love a challenge, so I try to focus on ‘How could I do this?’ and then I say, ‘Yeah, we can do it,’” Rodriguez said.

Keeping consistent

Since Vent-A-Hood was an originator in the industry, many people mistakenly call its range hoods a “vent-a-hood,” much like calling a facial tissue a Kleenex or a cotton swab a Q-tip.

What sets Vent-A-Hood range hoods apart from others in the industry, Blake Woodall said, is the patented “Magic Lung” blower system, which uses centrifuge technology to separate grease from vapor.

Over the years, the product has added new models and made adjustments for technological advancements and aesthetic preferences. However, the core patented blower system has remained the same.

“I think what’s kept us successful is our consistency. We have a product that is known for its performance and function, so we are consistent in a quality product,” Blake Woodall said.

That strong brand identification and consistency are what has kept Vent-A-Hood a leader in the kitchen ventilation business for eight decades, said Suzie Williford, director of business development and member relations for the National Kitchen and Bath Association.

“Vent-A-Hood is just one of those constants — they’re that dependable, believable [and] always willing to go the extra mile,” Williford said.

Blake Woodall said in the future he sees technology continuing to play a big role in not only the production process, but in how the product itself operates.

“The nice thing about appliances is they grow into it ... we get to see the generation below us, we get to see their interests early on, we get to watch them grow up and then we get to build to it,” Blake Woodall said.

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